Things To Make and Do List

As I have mentioned before, I am such a blog stalker. I just can't get over the fun, inspired projects and ideas other people come up with and then generously share with the rest of the internet world! Especially since I'm not very original AT ALL. I'm excellent at copying things and adapting other people's ideas, but I've kinda given up on being original, because everything I've thought up on my own, I've then seen later on, on someone else's blog. 

But here, is a BIG fat list of all the projects that I intend to try... sooner or later! Actually, it's not that big. This isn't all of it! And, because I'm such a blog addict, I'll constantly be adding things to my to-do-list!

Make a Nativity

Toy Car Caddy

Car Play Mat

90 Minute Kids Shirt

Superhero Capes

Adorable Little Girls' Purse

Upcycled Scarf

Cute Handbag

Monster Art Totes

Capelet

Eyeball T-Shirts
Adaptable Nappy Bag

Interchangeable Jandals (Flip Flops)

Pinwheel Skirt

Sweater Boots

Make My Own Bras

I Spy Book

I want to use some of the ideas here at New Dress A Day to make myself some summer dresses! Fun!
Gathered Flower Handbag
These awesome Winter Beanies for the kids
How cool is this playroom! My kids don't have a playroom, but I think it would be cool to put some interactive things on their walls instead of just plain paint and pictures.

A "Miss" version of Felt Mr Potato Head 
Felt Flash Cards 
Table Tent 
Gorgeous Baby Blankets 
Mail Sorter to adapt a little to use as a paperwork organizer in Brook's office 
Mermaid Costume 
Fairy Play Set  
Hemp Vases 
Most of the Wearable Tutorials over at Schwin&Schwin 


And this list of ideas that has been on my to-do list forever, but isn't necessarily online - or the vision in my head isn't anyway, so I may post some tutorials for some of these when I eventually get round to making them!

Hanging Nativity Frame

Advent Calendar

Christmas Stockings

Re-cover the couches

Table Runner for the piano

Bedspread for our bed

More cushions

A bassinet set

Cushion Cover and Library Bag for Kembry

Stacking shelves for the pantry

Hat Organizer

Hanging Door Organizer

Boxers for the kids

A Mermaid Costume for Kembry

Aprons for kids and I

Basketball clothes for Cumoram

Scrap T-Shirt

A Gumnut Wreath
Dollhouse Restoration x2
Bookshelf re-do
Re-paint the kids drawers
Finish (or re-fashion) the hundred-and-one UFP's (Unfinished projects) I have stashed away... or at least slowly work my through them... and try not to add anything else to the list!
Plant a vege garden and build raised garden beds
Make a head board for our bed
One year, I am going to do a Halloween Party. Halloween isn't a big deal here in Aus (compared to the US - although the shops pretend it is), but it looks like so much fun!
A portable, cardboard dollshouse (a la Better Homes and Gardens)

Baby Bath Mitt Tutorial

You will need

• The pattern (click on the picture below and then print it - I hope it works! - or just draw your own by tracing around an oven mitt)
• Terry toweling. I used a hand towel I got from Kmart for $1, and got two bath mitts out of it (but if I cut each piece separately instead of two at a time, I could get 3). Recycle a towel you have at home or pick up a fun coloured towel from the op shop or a discount store like Red Dot.
• 7 x 20cm rectangle of ribbing (you can use elastic and make a casing instead if you prefer).

 1. Cut out your pattern pieces.

2. Lay your pattern pieces one on top of the other, matching up all the edges. Starting at the bottom (wrist end) on the thumb-less side, sew about two-thirds of the way up (the stopping point is marked on the pattern with an arrow, and in the picture below with a pin). Don't go all the way around, make sure you stop before you get the the curve.

3. Open out your bath mitt and lay it flat, right side up.

4. Fold your ribbing in half length-ways, and line up the raw edge with the wrist edge of the bath mitt (if you're using elastic and casing, you'd do this with your casing material - fold it in half, wrong sides together and line up the edges like you would with the ribbing).

5. Sew along the raw edge, stretching the ribbing as you go by pulling it towards you as much as you can while sewing it. This will gather in the wrist a little bit and make a snug, comfy wrist band (if you're using the casing/elastic, just sew it normally, then attach your elastic to one end. Thread it through, pull it out as much as needed to gather it in, then sew the other end into place). Overlock this edge.

6. Place the mitt right sides together again, and starting from where you left off, finish sewing all the way around the edge of the mitt. Overlock the entire edge. Its easier to overlock if you change the settings so it doesn't cut off the excess material as it overlocks, this way you'll be able to get around the difficult curves without accidentally cutting into something.

7. Turn your bath mitt right side out, and put your baby in the bath so you can use your new bath mitt!

"My Shoes Keep Falling Off!"

Kembry loved these little sandals that I bought for her in Bali during our last trip. But that trip was in the middle of our Aussie winter (still hot and sticky in Bali though), so only now is Kembry able to start wearing them. So the other day she put them on to take Cumoram to school and as we're walking through the school grounds she says, "I can't mummy. They hurt coz they won't stay on." It was a very disappointed little girl who had to take off her shoes and walk barefoot, and put on a different pair when we got home.

So, I took her to our local Spotlight and bought her about one and a half metres of matching ribbon. 
I poked a hole on each side of the strap using a seam ripper, then used the snips to widen it a little bit...

  
I used tweezers to push the ribbon through the hole...

Pulled the ribbon through and tied a knot in it. I used Fray-Stop on the ends to stop them from fraying and to sort of help glue the knot in place so it wouldn't slip.

I did the same thing to the other side and then the other shoe, and in 5 minutes, here's a pair of cute little beaded sandals, that are now even cuter and more comfy with satin ribbon ties to tie around her little ankles and keep them from slipping off. The beading on the shoes was enough to hide the knots in the ribbon. I love when adorable little things become even more adorable, and now they're just a little bit more practical :) And yes, as soon as I can actually get her in the shoes AND pose for a photo I will post one !

How To Fix A Tear

One of the most useful things I learned how to do was to fix a tear. My hubby and kids are really hard on their clothes, which is annoying, but hubby also has "favourites" that if I didn't know how to repair them, he'd just keep wearing them as they are.  Hubby has just informed me that they are not favourites, they're just convenient to wear all the time!



So, using these well-loved convenient shorts of hubby's that I have (again) been asked to repair, I'll show you how to fix it (well, the way I do it anyway).

1. Find a piece of scrap fabric you can make a patch out of, and cut a patch a little bit bigger than the tear. Ideally, you want the patch fabric to be a similar colour and weight to the item of clothing you're fixing, but it doesn't really matter too much, I just used whatever happened to be lying around, which in this case was grey denim.


2. Cut a piece of Vliesofix (paper-backed fusible webbing) the same size as the patch. 

  3. Iron the Vliesofix to the patch to fuse it (remember to make sure it's glue-side down! Talking from experience...) and then peel away the backing paper.

4. Turn the item of clothing inside out and iron the patch over the tear.
Instead of using the Vliesofix, you can use an iron-on patch, cut it to size and iron it on. Or, use plain fusible webbing. Cut it to size, put it over the tear, put the patch on top and iron into place. 

5. When I was originally shown how to do this, they showed me how to use a straight stitch, going backwards and forwards, gradually working my way across the tear or hole. I've since switched to using a wide-ish zig zag stitch with a narrow stitch length, because I find it easier and quicker.


So, turn the item right side out again and position the needle at the top left of the tear (I find it easier to start there and work my way across and down). 

6. Using the zig zag stitch, stitch all the way down to the bottom of the tear. When you get to the bottom, leave your needle down in the fabric, lift the presser foot and turn the fabric (it will pivot around the needle so you don't have to reposition the needle) so that you can sew back in the opposite direction.

 7. Then stitch all the way down again. Keep this line of stitching as close as possible to the line you just did (I like to overlap them a bit). Keep doing this until the tear is covered and secure.


I did it on a piece of denim with white thread to help you see better...


Leave the needle down in the fabric, lift the presser foot and pivot the fabric around so you can sew back up the tear again...

Sew back down the tear...

Overlap the line of stitches a little bit, then keep going til the tear is covered and secure.

This is what it looks like on the inside... 

And there you are, no more hole! Though I guarantee you this won't be the last time I'll be repairing these shorts!

Burp Cloth Tutorial

I love these. I wish I'd had them for my first two babies. I just used folded-over flannelette nappies with them and they just didn't cut it with my spewy babies! I'm in the process of making a pile for our new bubba.

The main idea came from my husband's cousin's wife (got all that?), one of several wonderfully crafty girls in his family, who posted some pictures of some she'd made on facebook. She used two hand towels sewn together with a section of pretty fabric at the top. I wanted something less bulky but still absorbent so I adapted them a little.

You will need (for a set of 2):

* 2 hand towels. I picked mine up from Kmart for $1 each. You can also use terry towelling or chenille cut to size, but I like the range of colours hand towels come in and I'm up for anything that makes life easier - no measuring and cutting to size!  

*Fabric. I bought 60cm of 112cm wide fabric, which was exactly enough for 2 burp cloths and the decorative strips. 


1. Lay your hand towels side by side on the fabric, put a few pins in them to hold them in place then cut around them.

2. Cut the strip of leftover fabric into four equal strips lengthways.


3. Take one strip, turn the long edges under about 1/4 inch and press. Do the same with the other three strips.

4. Take a hand towel and position two of the strips where you want them. Pin into place, and then do the same with the other hand towel.

5. Top stitch down each side of each strip, and do the same to the other towel.

6. Now lay your hand towel back on your fabric, right sides together and pin around the edges 

7. Stitch all the way around the edge, leaving an opening at one end so you can turn your burp cloth right side out later. In the picture above, I've marked where my opening is going to be with pins (at the bottom end) so I wouldn't forget to leave it open!


The seams will lay flatter and be easier to top stitch later if you stitch alongside the binding, like this...

Instead of ON the binding like this...

7. Trim away the excess fabric and clip the corners (want to know what clipping corners means and why to do it? See Make it and Love It and click here)

,8. Turn your burp cloth right side out and top stitch all the way around the edges.

 

And voila, a very handy set of burp cloths that can be used as change mats, to put under baby on the floor or whatever else you need them for.

 You can also use a waterproof material like PUL, polyurethane or even a recycled shower curtain instead of the fabric, or sandwich it between the fabric and the towel. Just cut the waterproof fabric to size, then at Step 6 lay it down first, then lay the fabric and towel with their right sides together on top and continue. You could also try appliqueing cute shapes or letters to the towel instead of the plain strips.